M. Baze's two little girls had followed him with terrified eyes, and when they lost sight of him the youngest burst into tears. "Sister," said the elder, who was seven years old, "let us say our prayers," and the two children, clasping their hands, knelt down. Commissary Primorin, with his swarm of agents, burst into the Questor's study, and laid hands on everything. The first papers which he perceived on the middle of the table, and which he seized, were the famous decrees which had been prepared in the event of the Assembly having voted the proposal of the Questors. All the drawers were opened and searched. This overhauling of M. Baze's papers, which the Commissary of Police termed a domiciliary visit, lasted more than an hour. M. Baze's clothes had been taken to him, and he had dressed. When the "domiciliary visit" was over, he was taken out of the guard-house. There was a _fiacre_ in the courtyard, into which he entered, together with the three _sergents de ville_. The vehicle, in order to reach the Presidency door, passed by the Cour d'Honneur and then by the Courde Canonis. Day was breaking. M. Baze looked into the courtyard to see if the cannon were still there. He saw the ammunition wagons ranged in order with their shafts raised, but the places of the six cannon and the two mortars were vacant. In the avenue of the Presidency the _fiacre_ stopped for a moment. Two lines of soldiers, standing at ease, lined the footpaths of the avenue. At the foot of a tree were grouped three men: Colonel Espinasse, whom M. Baze knew and recognized, a species of Lieutenant-Colonel, who wore a black and orange ribbon round his neck, and a Major of Lancers, all three sword in hand, consulting together. The windows of the _fiacre_ were closed; M. Baze wished to lower them to appeal to these men; the _sergents de ville_ seized his arms. The Commissary Primorin then came up, and was about to re-enter the little chariot for two persons which had brought him. "Monsieur Baze," said he, with that villainous kind of courtesy which the agents of the _coup d'état_ willingly blended with their crime, "you must be uncomfortable with those three men in the _fiacre_. You are cramped; come in with me." "Let me alone," said the prisoner. "With these three men I am cramped; with you I should be contaminated." An escort of infantry was ranged on both sides of the _fiacre_. Colonel Espinasse called to the coachman, "Drive slowly by the Quai d'Orsay until you meet a cavalry escort. When the cavalry shall have assumed the charge, the infantry can come back." They set out. As the _fiacre_ turned into the Quai d'Orsay a picket of the 7th Lancers arrived at full speed. It was the escort: the troopers surrounded the _fiacre_, and the whole galloped off.